How typos can hurt online job recruiting

National Public Radio has a deserved reputation for the breadth of its offerings in radio and online, recently being called the BBC of the United States. In fact, its online content is so deep and so popular that the organization recently asked to be called, simply, NPR.

The organization is also hiring. But here’s where its online presence may provide a conflict. An advertisement for an opening has a noticeable typo in the job title:

If you work for NPR or are a fan of them, do you want to post a link to a job listing with such a blatant, silly mistake? Particularly in your social-media space? What if you work in journalism in general, or editing specifically?

Maybe you don’t mind, or maybe you figure that as long as you don’t repeat the error in your tweet, status update or e-mail, all is well.

But let’s pretend for a moment that the organization is not NPR — not nationally known, not a place with which job-seekers are familiar. What then? That smaller, anonymous organization looks rushed or shorthanded at best, incompetent and lazy are worst. Some job-seekers may be wary of that organization, and others may be reluctant to use social media to promote the company or the job opening.

None of this is guaranteed, of course. Obviously, it’s just a keystroke error, and many people can look past that. At worst, the loss in promotion and/or candidates is a small percentage. But every bit counts in this slowly recovering economy, and in getting the best candidates, not just the most desperate.